frontier times – Texas History Notebook

Isaac Parker, Legislator

Isaac Duke Parker was a son of John and Sarah White Parker. He was born in Georgia on April 7, 1793 and came to Texas as an adult with his family, finally settling in a stockade fort near the current town of Groesbeck in the early 1830s. The circumstances of the raid are probably familiar to many. To summarize, the Parker family consisted of about two dozen people and there were numerous others living in the compound. Many names are similar, adding to the confusion, but below is a rough listing of the family members and close relatives in or near the fort at the time of the attack:

John Parker (“Elder John Parker”) – a widower
Silas Mercer Parker, Sr. – husband of Lucinda Duty Parker
Lucinda Duty Parker – wife of Silas Mercer Parker, Sr.
James W. Parker – son of Silas, Sr. and Lucinda
Cynthia Ann Parker – daughter of Silas, Sr. and Lucinda
John Richard Parker – son of Silas, Sr. and Lucinda
Silas Mercer Parker Jr. – son of Silas, Sr. and Lucinda
Orlena Parker – daughter of Silas, Sr. and Lucinda
Sarah Pinson Duty (“Granny Parker”) – mother of Lucinda and Clara Elizabeth
Clara Elizabeth Duty Kellogg – sister of Lucinda and recently widowed
Benjamin Franklin W. Parker – brother of Elder John
Isaac Parker – brother of Elder John
Sarah Parker Nixon – daughter of James William
Lorenzo Dow Nixon – husband of Sarah Parker Nixon
Luther Martin Thomas (“L. T. M.”) Plummer – husband of Rachel
Rachel Parker Plummer – wife of Luther, daughter of James William Parker
James Pratt Plummer – son of Luther and Rachel
James William Parker – father of Rachel
Abigail Parker – sister of Elder John
Daniel Parker – brother of Elder John
Martha “Patsy” Dixon Parker – wife of Daniel

Ferdinand Jakob Lindheimer

Perhaps less known than others of his time, botanist and naturalist Ferdinand Jakob Lindheimer is called the Father of Texas Botany. Lindheimer was born May 21, 1801 in Frankfurt, Germany. He received his early education in Germany and was teaching there before he was 30 years old. According to accounts, he held political views that were controversial and unpopular for the day in Germany and around 1833, he decided to leave Germany. At that time the prevailing form of government was described as being a loose union of 39 states, dominated by Austria. It is presumed that Lindheimer held to a minority opinion favoring liberalism and democracy. Lindheimer relocated to the United States, living for a while in Illinois and for a year and several months in Mexico with other German expatriates until around 1836. About this time, articles note, he served in the Texas army. Some say that he fought in the Battle of San Jacinto while others hold that he joined soon after the battle.

Frances Cooke Lipscomb Van Zandt and Isaac Van Zandt

Although her husband Isaac Van Zandt is probably better known, Frances Cooke Lipscomb Van Zandt’s pioneer story is interesting. She was born March 4, 1816 to William Lipscomb and Ann Day Cooke Lipscomb. Isaac was born July 10, 1813 in Franklin, Tennessee to Mary Margaret Isaacs Van Zandt and Jacob Van Zandt. Isaac’s ancestry was Dutch, but both his grandfathers had participated in the Revolutionary War.

Acknowledging Frances’ 90th birthday, she and her daughter Ida gave a newspaper interview in which they provided more details about Frances’ life in the early days on the frontier of Texas. Frances was married to Isaac Van Zandt in Franklin County, Tennessee on December 18, 1833 when she was 17 and he was 20 years old and working as a merchant in the family store. Around two years later, the couple decided to make their home in Coffeeville, Mississippi along with their daughter Louisa and son Khleber. Life was good, but only for a short time until 1837 when there was a widespread economic depression, leading Isaac to close his business. Isaac studied law and was admitted to the Mississippi bar. Then in 1838, the family decided to move to the Republic of Texas and set out to make the journey by wagon. They got as far as the Louisiana-Texas border before running low on funds. Isaac and the family stopped at an abandoned garrison known as Camp Sabine, formerly a post of the United States Army, located east of the Sabine River. There they remained for the rest of that year before moving on to northeast Texas.

William Hittson

William Bedford Hittson was born October 14, 1834 in Mount Pleasant, Tennessee to Jesse J. Hittson (1801 – 1861) and Mary Ann Beck Hittson (1798 – 1879). His father, Jesse J. Hittson, was born in Virginia but came to Texas with his family in 1855. The Hittsons were a farming family but began raising cattle after settling in Texas. The family consisted of the parents, Aaron H. Hart (possibly a child from a previous marriage of the former Mary Ann Beck). The couple had two sons of their own, John Nathan Hittson and William Bedford Hittson. Both John and William were married by the time that the whole family moved to Texas. Jesse and the families of Aaron, John and William were all living in Palo Pinto County at the time of his death in 1861 at around the age of 60. No cause of death is noted.

After Jesse died, son John is said to have managed the cattle operation for their mother. None of the immediate family appear to have actively served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War though William Hittson was apparently on the roster of a local militia.

George (Red) Bingham, Texas Ranger

Little is actually known about the personal life of Ranger George R. “Red” Bingham. His date of death is July 3, 1880. A member of Company D under Captain D. W. Roberts, Bingham died in a gun battle in far West Texas. He is said to have been about 28 years old. His story is intertwined with that of an outlaw named Jesse Evans. In those days, most Texas Rangers were single men, which was most likely a requirement for employment at that time. Bingham was among a group of five rangers who were tasked with locating and arresting a group of outlaws believed to hide out in the area south of the territory of New Mexico and southwest of Fort Davis, Texas. Bingham was killed in a gun battle with the outlaws on July 3, 1880.